Shoulder pad



Jan., 13, 1953 K. MacMANUs 2,624,885

SHOULDER PAD Filed July l, 1950 Patented Jan. 13, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SHOULDER PAD Katie Lee MacManus, Apopka, Fla.

Application July 1, 1950, Serial No. 171,688

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to a shoulder pad and more particularly to a shoulder pad provided with means for removably attaching the same to the inside of a garment. The invention also pertains to a shoulder pad provided with means for retaining the strap of an undergarment, such as a slip.

An important object of the present invention is to provide a shoulder pad which may be quickly, easily and removably attached to a garment without need for particular care in locating the attachment means accurately with respect to the garment.

Another object of this invention is to provide a shoulder pad having easily and conveniently operated means for retaining the strap of an undergarment against undesirable displacement, as by slipping off the shoulder of the person Wearing the undergarment.

Other and further objects and features will become apparent from the following description and appended claim as illustrated by the accompanying drawing which shows, by Way of an example, a shoulder pad according to the present invention. More particularly:

Figure 1 is an elevational View, with parts broken away, showing a shoulder pad according to this invention as attached to a garment and functioning to retain a slip strap in proper position on the shoulder of the person wearing the garment;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the shoulder pad of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a bottom plan view, with parts broken away, of the shoulder pad of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a view of the Wide end of the shoulder pad of Figure 1; and

Figure 5 is a cross sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of Figure 2.

In Figures 1 through 5, the body of a shoulder pad is generally indicated by the reference numeral I0. This body may be made of quilted or padded material in any well known fashion, and may be of conventional tapering or generally triangular configuration, having an inner narrow and relatively thin end I2 adapted to overlie the middle portion of the shoulder of the wearer and expanding outwardly in thickness and width to terminate in a more or less transverse surface I4 extending across the end of the shoulder. The pad IIJ may be more or less arcuate in cross section, to conform with the shape of the shoulder of the wearer, being formed with two depending flaps or wings I6. As mentioned hereinabove, this shoulder pad construction is entirely conventional.

' For removably attaching the above described shoulder pad or any other conventional shoulder pad to the underside of a garment, I have provided two spaced tabs I8 and 2Q extending generally in line with the shoulder and formed with two transversely extending loops 22 and 24. The tabs I8 and 2t are preferably attached, respectively, to the inner and outer ends of the shoulder pad. More particularly, the tab I8 may be formed of a looped piece of tape having one end attached to either the upper or the lower side of the inner pad end I2, and projecting beyond said end while the tab 2D may be formed of a looped piece of tape attached to the upper edge of the outer pad end surface Id at about the middle of its upper edge, as by having the tape ends tucked under the pad covering and attached thereto by stitching 26. The shank portion of a safety pin 28 is threaded through the loop 22, and the shank portion of another safety pin 30 is threaded through the loop 24. The two tabs I3 and 20 may be from 1%,- to 1 inch ling. The loops 22 and 24 receive the shanks of the pins 28 and 3i! loosely enough to permit rotation along with some longitudinal and angular displacement of the safety pin Shanks in the loops.

The safety pins 22 and 24 can be pinned through the shoulder portion, and preferably through the fabric margins at the shoulder seam, of a dress, blouse, jacket or other garment indicated generally at 32 in Figure 1, without great care being required to space the pins apart accurately to prevent puckering or Wrinkling of the garment. The Shanks of the safety pins can rotate in the loops in the event that the points of attachment of the pins to the garment are spaced apart by a distance less than that between the ends of the loops. Further, if rotation of the pin shanks does not suffice to prevent puckering, the loops, being flexible, will bend sufciently to prevent puckering of the garment. Fnally, the loops permit the safety pins some angular and longitudinal displacement so that the pins, when attached to the garment, need not extend exactly transversely nor need they be stuck into the garments at points exactly on the shoulder line.

The above described means for attaching the pad to a garment may be combined with means for retaining the strap of an undergarment such as a slip. For this purpose, the tab I8 may be formed by one of a tape or ribbon 34 having one end doubled up upon itself to define the tab I8 and loop 22 and attached to the underside of the pad end I2 by the female half 36 of a snap member. The tape 34 extends along the underside of the pad a short distance beyond the middle of 3 the pad Where the tape is attached to the pad, as by stitching 38. At this pointl the tape 34 iS double up upon itself to form a loop that may be closed and opened at will, the free end of the tape 34 carrying the male half 40 of said snap member.

After the pad has been attached to a garment as disclosed hereinabove, any shoulder straps 42 of an undergarment such as a slip, are easily held in place by passing the free end of the tape 355 thereunder and thereafter removably attaching this free end to the underside of the pad, as by the snap 35, 45.

The attaching means of the present shoulder pad offers many advantages over conventional means of attaching shoulder pads which involve sewing, the use of snaps, the use -of safety pins or the like. Shoulder pads, being bulky and absorbent, cannot well be left attached to garments to be laundered or dry cleaned, since the pads would dry extremely slowly and cleaning uid retained therein would be apt to drain out into the garments and stain or discolor the garments, even aside from the shrinking and/ or distortion of the pads which is likely to be caused by exposure to a cleaning fluid. But removal of a pad attached by sewing or stitching takes time and, unless carefully done, may involve tearing or ripping or cutting of the garment. If snaps or the like are used to attach a pad removably to a garment, the snaps must be located accurated on the garment to prevent puckering, which taxes time, and if the garment shrinks, the snaps must be relocated. The use of safety pins by themselves is also unsatisfactory, because the pins then pass both through the shoulder pad and through the fabric of the garment, with resultant puckering of the latter.

All these disadvantages are avoided by providing, as described hereinabove, spaced tabs on the pads having the Shanks of transversely extending safety pins rotatably attached thereto so that these safety pins need pass only through the fabric of the garment and are permitted, by rotation and by flexing of the tabs, to compensate for otherwise inaccurate spacing of the pins stuck through the garment. Further, the shoulder pads may be attached or detached to a garment in a few moments.

The above disclosed loop on the underside of the shoulder pad with its removable closure permits easy securing of the strap of an undergarment against displacement.

Many details of construction may be varied Within a Wide range and it is therefore not my intention to limit the patent granted on this nvention otherwise than necessitated by the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A shoulder pad adapted to be removably attached to the inside of a garment, said pad comprising a body tapering from its inner end to its outer end and, when attached to said garment, extending along the shoulder of the wearer, a rst tape doubled upon itself to form a loop and attached to .the central part of the outer body end portion directly underlying said garment to form a first loop extending generally axially of said shoulder and adapted to project outside of the contour or" saidpad .body and also adapted to have the shank of asafety pin threadedtherethrough,and rotatably retained therein so as to extend generally transversely of said body, a second tape having one end doubled up upon itself and attached to the inner body end portion directly underlying said garment to form a second loop extending generally axially of said shoulder and adapted to project outside of the contour of said pad body and also adapted to have the shank of a safety pin threaded therethrough and rotatably retained therein so as to extend generally transversely of said body, said second tape further extending on the under side of said body along said shoulder and being doubled up upon itself to form a third loop, the upper half of said third loop being attached to the under side of said body, and snap means for removably attaching the free end of said second tape to the attached portion thereof to open and close said third loop.

KATE LEE MACMANUS.

REFERENCES CITED.

The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,334,514 Beitter Mar- 23, 1920 2,483,809 Clark et al. Oct. 4, 1949 2,497,992 Jacques Feb. 21, 1950 

